The Lost Merman
by Bobby South
Summary: When the end approaches for the land and the sea, a guy from sky comes down and offers to help
1. JacoPalo

Four years have passed since Ursula's sister Morgana was defeated by King Triton and his granddaughter Melody and since then life on the land and sea has been grand. Human and merfolk were living well together. Prince Eric and Ariel with their daughter Melody were still ruling the land very well and happily and the girls were always popping into the sea as mermaids to visit Ariel's father, King Triton and his kingdom of Atlantica. Life was happy.

And life was good for one of the voluntary servants called Christopher. He worked hard as an assistant for the chef Louis. He had been in the service since he was six when his ship burned down and lost his family. Prince Eric took this only survivor and gave his a new life and Chris had been grateful to Louis ever since. He was also friends with Eric's dog, Max. And he was friends with four animals: a fox called Fred, a sparrow called Thomas, a tortoise called Daniel and a duck called Sally. So life for an eighteen-year-old was cool.

Then, one night, when he finished and went to talk to his friends after work, Chris wasn't looking too happy.

"What's the matter, Chris?" asked Thomas. "Have you proposed to Melody and she said no?"

"No, Tom," sighed Chris. "It's not that. It's just the whole kingdom is in trouble."

"How?" asked Fred.

"The King is dying and Prince Eric can't make his mind up about becoming King or not."

"What about Princess Ariel?" Sally asked.

"That's the other problem, Sally," said Chris. "King Triton of the Seas is getting old and he wants to pass the crown onto someone else. Princess Ariel is the only one available because all of her other sisters are married to the other lords of the sea to bring peace in the seas. So you see, guys, everything is in trouble. Not even Eric's adviser Grimsby can come up with a good solution."

"Well, when's the next time you're going with the Royal masters out to sea?" asked Daniel.

"Tomorrow," answered Chris.

"If you go and see them talk to King Triton, maybe everything will work out a lot better."

* * *

But even wise old Daniel was wrong. Chris went on the ship as part of Eric's crew and saw Prince Eric, Princess Ariel and Princess Melody were talking to King Triton. There were a lot of merfolk and fish listening to them. What Chris could hear, it was not a good or nice talk.

"Oh, daddy, why did you let them leave?" asked Ariel. "I was never going to be the Queen of the Sea. I'm the youngest."

"I'm sorry, Ariel," apologized Triton. "I did not send them away not only for peace reasons, but also because they love those lords. If only I could find the other heir."

"Then where is he?" asked Ariel.

"I don't know," said Triton. "I had a friend and I was the godfather of his son. But then came the day when someone took him and he was nowhere to be seen."

"I could take the throne!" exclaimed Melody. "I love the sea and I've spent my life with a royal family and I know – "

Then the sea rumbled and the boat was shaking. All the crew fell down! The fish and the merfolk were staying still.

"I can't move!" groaned Ariel's friend, Flounder.

"It's because some strange dark sand underneath is trapping us!" cried Triton's conductor, Sebastian the crab.

"I'll go and check up the sky!" yelled Scuttle the seagull. And up he flew and flew! He hadn't gotten far when some strange sand storms came from the sky and hit him on the beak! He was forced to fall back and crash-land on the Eric's ship.

The sand storms came onto the ship and they took human form. They captured all of the crew and took hold of them. The sands from under the sea took half of human form too and would not let the creatures of sea free.

"Hold it! Hold it, guys!" cried the English voice of one of Eric's crew, who was not captured by the sand monsters. "Come on! You call this the best way to negotiate? To reveal ourselves after a thousand years? Really! Also I told you to capture me to not make it look obvious!"

"Mark?" Eric frowned. "Whatever is going on?"

"Why, I found the perfect solution to peace, your highness," smiled Mark. "The land and the sea give their lives to – " Sand covered Mark's handsome young body and when the sand blew off, he was now a creature, the same height but covered in feathers and with a large beak on his face – "the sky!"

King Triton saw the monster with rage. "Jaco-Palo! What are you doing here?" His triton began to glow.

"I came here to negotiate," smiled Jaco-Palo. "After what both your species did to mine." And he told the whole story.

A thousand years ago, Jaco-Palo was the leader of skymen – people who had wings of a bid and lived high in the clouds – and led war against the merfolk and the humans. Yet both ancestors of Triton and Eric were wise kings and defeated them, though at different times each. However, Jaco-Palo fled and became friends and allies of Ursula's family and therefore the godfather of both Ursula and Morgana. He secretly helped them in their fiendish plots, yet they failed. He was even the one who actually killed Triton's wife, Queen Athena, while working for Eric's boat and made Triton hate humans so he would be blinded by this and not suspect anything. So, after the defeated of Morgana, he spent the last four years plotting this and something else if they don't join him.

"Not kept you bored, have I?" asked Jaco-Palo. All anyone did was gave him a mean look. "So you've been listening? Good. So what say, we put the past behind us. Give your crowns to me and I will take the pressures of ruling them and you can have good lives. Everyone of the land, the sea and the air can!"

Everyone went silent. Then Scuttle spoke. "What about the people you are ruling now? You'll get more and more pressure."

"Oh, no!" cried Jaco-Palo. "It'll be a piece of cake. No worries at all."

"That doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence," said Eric wisely. "Yes, I didn't know you well before you revealed your true self but I know the types of lies you tell. I don't believe you and I will never let the lands be in the hands of the Sky!"

"Neither will I for the sea!" joined in Triton.

Jaco-Palo was very angry. "Very well, if that's your decision. But, I warn you, if anyone of your peoples die, it will be your fault." He turned around. "TOUGHCLAW!"

Then, out of the sky, came a giant brown-feathered griffin! "Yes, sir?"

"Our plan didn't work! Let's go to Plan B!" Jaco-Palo ordered. He climbed on Toughclaw and flew off. "We shall meet again before the end of the world," he laughed evilly.

The humans and the merfolk didn't know what to say.

"Eric, if you even show on the battlefield, you and your armies will die and the world will be gone like lightening," Grimsby told Eric.

"But he'll take over just like that," said Eric, clicking his fingers, "if we don't fight."

"You're right, Eric," agreed Triton. "We must make a stand against Jaco-Palo and his evil wing creatures and we must make a stand now. Today we shall supply and rest. Tomorrow, we ride. On the third, we shall fight!"

"Agreed," said Eric shaking hands with Triton. Then he turned to Grimsby. "Grimsby, while I'm gone, you shall rule the kingdom and it shall be yours if I don't make it. "

"Oh, Eric, don't say that," sobbed Grimsby, wiping the tears of his eyes.

"And Ariel and Melody, if I don't make it, promise me you will rule the seas with all your heats," Triton told the girls. "Promise!"

"We promise," sighed the girls.

And everyone went back to their homes, sadly. Except for Christopher, because he had sneaked inside Toughclaw's feathers under his belly and was flying with him and Jaco-Palo!


	2. A New Skyman

Chris was getting airsick after flying for three days. Then he saw he was flying over trees. He jump off Toughclaw and landed on the branch of one of the trees. He slowly climbed down and saw he was in some sort of tropical rainforest with giant green trees and yellow sand. A place he had never been or seen anything like it in his life.

Chris was a little bit worried and a bit hungry. Then he saw some bananas and he climbed up the tree. But, when he got on the highest branch, the bananas were still out of his reach. He jumped up and tried to reach them, but he couldn't. Then something went straight through them and the bananas landed... on an annoyed Chris's head.

Out of the banana mash came an Amazon bird. "Sorry about that," he said. "I'm in on the run for something I didn't do and a herd is after me."

"What are you accused for?" asked Chris.

"I'm accused for stealing breadcrumbs from the evil Jaco-Palo and – Here come Jaco-Palo's armies!" The Amazon's wing pointed to the left. There Chris saw a whole bunch of tropical birds flying towards them.

"Captain Talon, there he is next to that human!" yelled a cuckoo bird.

"Well, you know what to do, Lieutenant," said Captain Talon, an oilbird. "Get them both!"

"You heard him, birds!" shouted Lieutenant Cuckoo. And they birds flew like a sandstorm.

Chris saw them coming. He grabbed the Amazon bird. "You tell me which way to go, the best places to hide and I'll protect you."

"If they say, 'Have you seen anyone called Kevin?' – that would be me – say no," Kevin the Amazon bird told Chris.

"My name is Chris," said Chris.

* * *

And so the chase was on. Wherever Kevin told Chris to go, Chris would go, through the cramp trees, through the deep sand trenches, through the waters and through a dark tunnel.

"Have you been down this tunnel before?" asked Chris.

"No, that's why I'm sure it'll lead us to safety," said Kevin, proud of himself. "Besides I think we've lost them."

"If you keep quiet, I think we will!" whispered Chris.

Then he saw some light ahead. They were approaching the end of the tunnel! He was running towards the light and found himself somewhere no one had ever seen been. He was in some sort of temple! It was large and handmade with stone. It had columns and colours and grand steps and seats with large candles.

"What is this place, Kevin?" asked Chris.

"Oh, bother, we must've taken a wrong term," sighed Kevin. "We're in the temple of Jaco-Palo!"

"What? How many temples has he got?"

"Just this one. This one has been built long before the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Mayans, the Toltecs and the Aztecs."

"And it will be the last temple when we knock down Eric's and Triton's Kingdoms!" Chris and Kevin turned around and saw Captain Talon's army flying towards them. Chris ran down the stairs, leading to him to outside. He followed the stairs down, but his vision was surrounded by clouds. He was so focusing on running down that he didn't know he would fall down! Luckily, he grabbed the last step and looked down. He saw below that he was in some sort of oasis, full of sand and tropical trees.

Kevin was flying in the air and flew back to Chris. "Chris, let my claws grab your shoulders and I'll fly you to safety!"

"No! Go on, Kevin! Run... Er, I mean, fly for it!"

"In that case, thank you for everything!" And Kevin began to fly away.

Chris tried to hang on, but he couldn't. He fell! As he fell down further and further, he saw the land was coming closer. He braced himself for... a body of giant feathers. Chris knew who it was... Toughclaw!

"Yes, Chris, I know who you are and I knew you were under my stomach all the time!" Toughclaw chuckled. "The master will be so pleased to see this."

Chris saw some trees and tried to jump for them, but Toughclaw's claws caught him. "Nice try, but I ain't brawn with brains!"

Chris felt defeated and even more defeated when he saw Kevin in manacles of Captain Talon's army.

* * *

Back at the temple, they were thrown to the giant throne, where the tall, dark, feathered, scary figure of Jaco-Palo stood on.

"Well, well, well," he said. "A roughish Amazon bird thief and a stowaway, but not on a boat. Get it?" He laughed at this joke.

"Surprised? I can take you!" Kevin struggled to wriggle through his manacles.

"Really? Captain, take those manacles off. Let him claim this throne and rule this throne," chuckled Jaco-Palo.

"Yes, sir." And Captain Talon took the manacles off. Kevin threw to him.

"What is he doing?" whispered Lieutenant Cuckoo.

"He's showing Kevin who's boss," whispered the Captain back.

And the Captain was right. Kevin took a punch to the evil ruler, but Jaco-Palo was too powerful and too strong that he wasted all his energy. Jaco-Palo flicked his on the beak gently and poor Kevin was sent to the other side on the room, crashing into a table with a vase falling on his head.

"Kevin?" Chris tried to break free, but he was hold down by strong birds.

"How about you?" asked Jaco-Palo. "Do you want to take a swing at me?"

"No," answered Chris.

"Rather spend your life in prison than die?"

"Yes," Chris said brilliantly.

"You can't fool me, Chris," Jaco-Palo smiled evilly. "I know you from Eric's ship and you thought you could come here and deal with it without going to war, did you? Well, you could've stopped it, but you failed. It's no wonder you're just a volunteer for Eric's staff. You have no brains and no brawn. You're nothing! But do you know what I do to nothings?"

* * *

The answer is Jaco-Palo takes these "nothings" in dungeons and feeds them on bread and water once a day. Chris and Kevin have been in the dungeon cold and alone for about a week. Kevin would be eating while Chris would be thinking about the land and the sea.

"Do you want some bread and water, Chris?" Kevin would ask.

"No, thank you," Chris would say.

"Come on, Chris," Kevin cried on the last day of the week. "You haven't eaten or drank for a whole week! 168 hours preciously!"

"How can I eat and drink while the land and the sea are about to die at the hands of the sky?" Chris shouted. He sighed, feeling guilty of shouting. "I'm sorry, Kevin, but – "

"I know," said Kevin gently. "I would do the same, too. In fact, I didn't really steal bread for myself. I was stealing bread for one of the few skymen left."

"Skyman?"

"He looks like you, like a human I mean, but only with eagle wings. I was giving him bread to feed them, otherwise they would become sand monsters."

"Like the ones that my crew and the sea creatures on Eric's boat!" exclaimed Chris. "But why would he want to do that? Why did he keep the birds?"

"Well," went on Kevin, "there was a storm that overtook all the birds in this oasis and turned him into his slaves, but I wasn't there, because I was on vacation in the next oasis. Then, when I came back, that's when I discovered what's happened. I also discovered the once peaceful wingmen were now turned into the sand monsters and now he's ready to conquer the world. So, you see, Chris, before we got captured, we _did_ try than do nothing at all," the Amazon concluded.

"But there still must be something we can do than just sit here!" yelled Chris.

"There is," said a soft calm voice. Chris and Kevin turned around and saw someone else in the dungeon. He got up and in the light Chris and Kevin has seen a proper skyman – an old one with crow wings.

"Who are you?" Chris asked.

"My name is Lord Kabel," the skyman said. "I am the last of my kind unless we do something."

"But, boss, we tried everything to escape, but they always failed!" said a toucan, approaching from Kabel's left shoulder.

"Only because we always do _your_ ideas and not mine," protested another toucan approaching on his right shoulder.

"These are the twin toucans, Barry and Berry," Kabel introduced to Chris and Kevin.

"I can see the family resemblance," said Kevin.

"So how can we help you?" asked Chris.

Kabel got out a little scroll and a little blue bottle. "Take this map and drink this bottle, Christopher," Kabel told Chris.

An unsure Chris took the bottle and drank it.

"Now, once you are out, seek The Three Orbs and bring them to me in this cell," Kabel told him. "It will bring peace to the Land and the Sea and the Sky. Barry and Berry, go with him and Kevin."  
"Yes, sir," said the twin toucans and flew to Chris's shoulders. Kevin flew on his head.

"But, my lord, how will I find these orbs?" asked Chris. Then suddenly Lord Kabel was nowhere to be seen and neither was the dungeon or any of Jaco-Palo's temple. He was out in the oasis and Kevin and the toucans were next to him.

"What just happened?" Chris demanded to know.

"Well, everything just disappeared in front of us," said Barry.

"I know that!" Chris was so confused, he was losing control.

"Look here, sonny," said Berry. "Lord Kabel gave you some potion to send you away from Jaco-Palo's temple as possible to find the orbs. And look at yourself!"

Chris notice his shirt was off. "What happened to my shirt?"

"No, not that," Kevin said. "Here, take a drink."

Chris went to the river and went to take some water, but as he put it in his mouth, he spat it out, seeing on his back, he had wings of a tropicbird. "What? I'm a – "

"Yes, you are a skyman, so you collect the orbs easily," said Berry.

"Starting with the easiest one first, the sky!" added Barry.

"Well, come on, let's go!" cried Kevin.

And the birds flew in the sky. Chris stayed. Kevin flew back to him.

"I don't know if I came do this, Kevin," sighed Chris.

"Don't those insults Jaco-Palo said to you cloud your mind," Kevin told him. "Now, come on, we can save your friends and as well as their environments. The last skyman is counting on us."

And so Chris joined his feathered friends on their quest to save the world.


	3. The Air Orb

Chris, Jake, Barry and Berry flew up high in the sky, but yielded nothing. Barry and Berry kept on arguing with the map. It was always "it's this way" with Barry and "no, it's that way" with Berry.

At long last, Kevin lost patience with the twins and snatched the map off. "You guys have both been wrong! We're now further away from the Air Orb than we were when we started! Now let's retrace our flaps and go back."

"Wait!" cried Chris. "I don't remember seeing _that_ mountain on that map."

And the birds flew next to Chris and, as the clouds in the high sky cleared, they saw a very tall and funny shaped mountain in the shape of an angry-looking eagle face.

"Why wouldn't they put it on the map?" asked Berry.

"I have a funny feeling that no one wants to find the orbs so that map will just send you flying in the wrong directions," thought Chris.

"In that case..." Kevin scrunched the map and threw it away. "All right, let's go!"

And so Chris and the birds flew down to the mountain, then they were greeted by some strange thin dark things that shot like arrows! Chris and the birds tried to dodge them.

"What are they?" asked Chris.

"They're poisonous grass darts!" shouted Kevin. "No one's firing them; it's magic spell!"

"But we must get past them if we want to enter that mountain and find the Orb!" added Barry.

"Which no one has done before!" added Berry.

"But we still have to try! Come on!" ordered Chris.

So they all avoided the grass darts and searched high and low around the mountain, but they could not find a way in.

Then Chris saw a full spear with in a messy pile of broken swords and shield. He picked it up and threw it to a very loose stone stoned deep into the mountain. BULLS-EYE! Chris and the birds flew back to see the falling rocks crush the grass darts on the ground and, guess what, made an entry into the mountain.

"Well done, Chris," said Kevin.

"Hey, it's all teamwork," smiled Chris modestly. "Now, speaking of which, Kevin and I will go in and find the Orb. Barry, Berry, you tou stay here in case something bad happens."

"Like what?" asked the twin toucans.

"You'll see if you watch!" said a stressed Chris as he and Kevin flew in. Barry and Berry said nothing and looked around everywhere.

* * *

Chris and Kevin hadn't been flying for long when they came near to some light reflecting from the sun and was hovering on the rocks. Chris threw a rock through the light and... nothing happened. So no sooner had they flown than they were greeted by... giant nettle weeds! They tried to dodge them but they couldn't. Then Kevin saw Chris putting his hands in mud.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"While I was working at Eric's castle, I pulled weeds out of his garden too," answered Chris. "This mud should protect my hands."

And they did! Chris touched the nettles and pulled them out.

"Well done, Chris," smiled an amazed Kevin.

"Let's not celebrate yet," said Chris, pointing down. No sooner had they passed the light before more giant nettles shot up! "Now let's celebrate."

"When we find the Air Orb," chuckled Kevin as he and Chris carried on.

* * *

They had been following a very long tunnel and since then nothing unexpected happened, which was _not_ what Chris and Kevin expected.

"Are we there yet?" asked Chris.

"We have been flying for about two hours so we must get there sooner than later," said Kevin.

Then he heard a rumbling noise. "The twin toucans!" they said together. But when they turned around, they were wrong. It wasn't the toucans; it was a river of lava! And it was catching up! Chris and Kevin flew as fast as they could! No matter how fast they flew, the lava just kept on coming closer and closer! To make matters worse, they was a bright light at the other end and it looked like it was closing! Poor Kevin had enough and he began to feel defeated and let himself flow downwards. But kind Chris caught and flew with all he had and finally reached the end! They landed on the other side before the rockslide covered them. The lava was trapped behind the rocks too. They were safe.

As they got up, they saw a shining silver bridge, leading to a white stone platform with something round and large and clear-blue. It was the Air Orb! Chris slowly walked on the bridge, with Kevin flying up just to make sure that nothing bad would happen. Nothing happened. They arrived at the Air Orb. They checked everywhere; there were no pests or trap waiting to happen. Chris went for the Orb –

WHACK! Chris was flown into the sky, but he stopped in mid-air, unlike Kevin who was flown in the sky like Chris, but crashed in a rock and fell out. Chris looked ahead and saw another skyman who had the body of a Jamaican and with the wings of a skylark.

"You want this orb, boy, you've gotta orb me!" the skyman shouted in a thick Jamaican accent.

"Listen, I'm not a thief!" shouted Chris. "I don't want to kill you! I need that orb to make peace with the land and the sea!"  
"What? You came from the land and the sea? Those creatures that killed skymen like me? Where did you get those wings from?"

"Oh, uh, I don't know – "

"From Jaco-Palo? The traitor?" And the skyman flew to Chris and with an axe!

"No, from a prisoner in Jaco-Palo's dungeon!"

But the skyman wouldn't listen. He tried to whack Chris with the axe, but Chris was quick and easy to miss. Then the skyman kicked him in the stomach and flew him to a wall, where he saw a golden sword lying nearby. The skyman came for Chris and he struck with his axe, but the axe was blocked off with the golden sword in Chris's hand. Chris kicked him away and flew for the air orb, but the skyman caught him by the leg. Chris kicked him off and he had to block off the axes from the skyman. After much blocking, Chris was getting tired and he had no energy that he led the akyman punch him to where the air orb is. Chris saw his chance to grab it, only the skyman's leg stamped on his hand.

"Is this what you want? Two skymen, an endangered species, fighting each other?"

"You're not a skyman and we are not a violent race, like you humans or merfolk!" shouted the skyman. "If the skymen are going to die, let's do it now. You first, Clo-Yehn second!"

Then the cave was rumbling and both of them looked upwards. The roof was coming! It was a rockslide. Clo-Yehn, let go of Chris and flew. Chris got up and managed to pick up the Air Orb. I felt like carrying nothing. But then the platform he was standing on broke off and flew down. Chris floated in mid-air, avoiding the falling rocks. "Kevin?" he shouted. KEVIN! WHERE ARE YOU?"

He looked for Kevin and found him still unconscious! He picked him up, but a big rock knocked him out and he was floating towards the floor...


	4. The Land Orb

"Uh! Oh!" Chris woke up to find himself not in the mountain or in heaven, but on Earth. A piece of green earth.

He got up and saw he was in a nice forest, with Kevin and Barry and Berry drinking water and eating fruits. "Hey, you're awake!" cried Barry and Berry, each giving him an apple.

"What happened, guys?" asked Chris, as he took both apples.

"Well, from the start, when you left me and Berry out there – " began Barry.

"We were playing I spy for ages – " joined in Berry.

"Then we heard a fighting noise – "

"Barry sent me to check it out and I got stuck – "

"I had to go and help Berry out – "

"Then I started to sink and the mountain – "

"Let me guess the end," interrupted Chris. "You tou keep down and found me and Kevin and flew us up."

"Yeah!" cried the toucans.

"We're sorry if we caused any trouble," apologized Berry.

"That's okay," smiled Chris. "I've been in rougher spots." He hadn't really, but he just decided to keep cool, like when Prince Eric and Princess Ariel don't panic when something bad goes wrong. "But the Land and the Sea Orbs might be in much tighter spots, so now we've relaxed and recovered, let's go!"

* * *

And so Chris and the birds flew on to continue their long journey. They haven't been flying for long until they came to Prince Eric's castle. The birds flew on, but Chris sat on the roof and saw what was happening. Prince Eric's sailors and soldiers were getting on the ships. On the biggest vessel ahead of the whole fleet, Prince Eric got on board and was joined by Princesses Ariel and Melody. They were greeted by King Triton and his army.

"Are you ready, Your Majesty?" asked Eric.

"Yes, I am," answered Triton. "Ariel, Melody, are you two ready?"

"Yes," they answered. Then they hugged Eric, probably for the last time. Then Triton used his triton to turn them into mermaids and off they went down.

"Cast off!" ordered Eric before he got soppy. Before he was out of sight, he called to Grimsby, "If I don't return, take good care of the Kingdom and let the peace with the sea continue, Grim!"

"I will! I promise!" promised Grimsby. And the vessels were out of sight.

Chris saw every detail and could barely move. Kevin came back to him. "Chris? Chris!"

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. I've just been watching something why I must find the orbs. King Triton and Prince Eric are going to war with Jaco-Palo!"

"Well, sitting here won't get any done," said Kevin. "Come on." And Chris slowly followed.

* * *

Chris and Kevin finally caught up with the twin toucans in a dark forest with lots of trees. They all stopped at a stone-made temple filled with columns.

"I reckon this will be where the Land Orb is," said Barry.

"Well, this is Gelrum Forest and no one has come here for about a century, so this would be the best place to hide something like an orb," added Chris. "Come on, time's running out."

They went inside and they all found a big hunk of... nothing! Just a big neatly hand-made room, with no pictures, no candles and no furniture.

"Start searching," ordered Kevin. "It must be in here somewhere." While the birds were searching the roof and the walls, Chris was searching for the floor. He saw one brick very loose and decided to push it down. Then the whole floor began to rumble and fall down! Chris was very lucky he had those wings not only because of the falling floor, but underneath the floor was being crushed by self-spinning blades underneath!  
"No wonder no-one would try," said an amazed Kevin.

"Why?" asked Barry and Berry.

"Never mind," sighed Kevin. "Let's fly down and find that Land Orb."

So they all flew down, avoiding the blades, to the ground below. Chris landed on it and it felt rock solid. He walked on to see what he might find on the ground, while the birds flew in the air.

Then something caught Chris's eye. He saw a stone-made picture of a similar orb. He got closer and studied it. Then he sank to the ground so quickly that he couldn't flap out in time. "Help! Help!" cried Chris.

His friends saw what was happening and flew to help him. The toucans grabbed a shoulder of Chris each and tried to pull him out, but the sinking was too strong. They let go by slipping off his shoulders and Chris was gone.

"Chris! CHRIS!" screamed Kevin, deciding to fly straight into the muddy bog to rescue him, but the toucans grabbed his legs each.

"If we don't find the Land and the Sea Orb, other people and creatures will die!" shouted Barry.

"Yeah, continuing this journey is what Chris would have wanted!" added Berry.

Kevin stopped struggling and calmed himself down. "You're right. Let's end this for good."

* * *

They flew on and were greeted by crossing blades from wall to wall. But that was no problem for fast birds that could fly quickly, except the tail end feathers of poor Berry came off!

Then they all flew on but Kevin was nearly crushed by the wall! The toucans dragged him back and to see some parts of the wall moving out from each side. With no way to fly over it, the birds had to fly quickly and swiftly through them. But, when they got through, there was a large giant brick from another wall pushing them further away and sending them through a giant skull's mouth.

"Well, nice knowing you guys!" shouted Barry as they were sent through the mouth. They were heading down some lava at the ground below. They tried to fly, but flapping their wings did no good. Then Kevin saw vines that like the ones from his home forest. "Grab one!" he ordered the toucans. And they obeyed.

"Why can't we fly, Kevin?" asked Barry.

"Well, maybe it could be a spell that's stopping us," thought Berry.

"Yes, Berry," agreed Kevin. "That makes absolute sense." Then Kevin looked around and saw floating on a giant tree at furthest end of the forest of the giant vines... the beautiful grass-green Land Orb! "What are we waiting for? Come on!"

But no matter how fast the birds hopped from vine to vine, the tree and the Land Orb kept flying away from them. Kevin and Berry kept on swinging, but then Barry stopped and closed his eyes.

"Barry, what are you doing?" shouted Berry.

Barry didn't answer, but Berry's questions were answered when the tree and the Land Orb arrived at where Barry stood. He touched it and then he closed his eyes again. Kevin and Berry were so confused, but they were even more confused when they were standing outside the temple.

"What's going on?" asked Berry.

"How did you do it, Barry?" asked Kevin.

"Well, all I did was wish that we could make that tree and that orb come closer to us instead of away and we could get out of that horrible place in one piece," answered Barry.

"So it was your brain that got us out," thought Kevin. "How clever!"

"Not clever enough to get Chris out," sighed Barry. "I thought of him, but it's only wish that has come untrue!"

"Now _that's_ untrue!" giggled a voice all the birds knew. They were very shocked when they looked ahead and had their mouths fall to the ground.


	5. The Sea Orb

Kevin, Barry and Berry were very shocked to see Chris standing there with the light-blue Sea Orb!

"So my wish did come true!" sighed a relieved Barry.

"Yes," smiled Chris. "Now let's make my wish come true. Come on, let's head back to the dungeon of Jaco-Palo."

"What really happened?" asked Kevin, as all of them were up in the air.

"Well..." began Chris.

* * *

_As soon I fell down in the sinking mud after you tried to help me up, I was sinking further and further. Then I stopped and I tried to climb up and I did, but only to find myself in water. In fact I was outside the Kingdom of Atlantica. How I was breathing I still don't know. Then I head talking coming towards me so I hid behind a nearby rock and guess who I saw – Princess Melody and her friends Tip the penguin and Dash the Walrus. _

_"If that bird brain does come here, we'll show him!" boasted Tip._

_"Show him our weakness, more-like," groaned Dash._

_"Come on, you guys," said Melody. "We must keep our hopes up. If we lose that, what more can we do?"_

_And they all swam away. After hearing that, I knew I had to act so I either swam or flew to the outskirts. I found nothing until I came to a strange lair. It was dark and ugly. It was the home of Ursula the Sea Witch! I went in, but it was so scary and lots of air bubbles would shoot up. When I got to her spell room, I was frightened about what to do and what to touch. Then I saw some a little scroll under her sea cauldron where she would do her spells; that's what I heard Ariel told Eric nearly twenty years ago. Then I looked at it and saw a route, leading out of her house, out further to the outskirts and to where the mark was. I thought that was the Sea Orb and since there was no other evidence I went for it._

_I wonder why no one had ever tried to take a scroll before and then I found the answer. There were about five dozen squid legs appearing from the sea and they caught me and the scroll. They tried to choke me to death, but then I saw Ursula's unused potions nearby. So I caught the nearest one and threw it on the ground. The liquid sunk into the sand and the tentacles realised me and I caught the scroll. I didn't know what I did but I _did_ know there wasn't any time to think either so I flew out. _

_Before I left the lair, outside something from the ground appeared from the sand! It was an octopus! A normal sized octopus, but her tentacles were the same colour of the giant ones that nearly killed me._

"_I've been under there for about – oh, who knows how long? What's happened?" she asked._

"_King Triton's daughter, Princess Ariel, has had a daughter called Melody and Ursula and Morgana are dead as the sea dodos," I told her, giving her my best answer._

_There was a long pause. "Boy, have I missed much!" And she swam in the opposite direction from me._

_

* * *

_

_I have been following the map, but the more I followed it, the less sure I felt because everything looked like the same and the least-likely to contain booby traps. But still I focus and it led to a crack underneath a giant rock. I dag under it, like Max does to his bones and I swan underneath._

_I was inside a very dark cave. So dark I kept bumping into rocks and bruising myself. Then I had a bit of luck. I saw a flashing dark-blue light approaching from a distant. So I followed it very weakly, but still focused. Then I found the X mark – the Sea Orb! I got very close to it, touched it and then grabbed it! Nothing happened, so I swam ahead and was planning to you guys, but then something caught me by the feet, both sharp and stinging. I turned around and saw a jellyfish next to me! He was a martial arts expert._

_"You want to get out with that orb alive, you will have to go through Jel-Sting!" cried the jellyfish._

_"Look, I don't want to fight you!" I cried back. But he didn't listen to me, so I had to draw my sword and fight him. But no matter how hard I fought, I was no match for Jel-Sting. I was always getting stung by him everywhere... Well, not everywhere, but you don't want to know about it._

_Then, for some reason, I landed next to you guys at the cliff with the sea orb in my hand..._

"... and you know what happens now," concluded Chris.

"What?" asked Berry.

"We take these orbs to that prisoner in the dungeon and we save the world," answered Chris. "Come on."

And the birds flew off.

* * *

While Chris was busy with the Sea Orb and the birds, he didn't realise he was being followed by Melody and her friends. They were answering a call for help from the outskirts. "Help! Help!"

"Oh, boy, it really feels good to be a hero again!" cried Tip happily.

So they went to the cave and he, Dash and Melody pushed the rock away from the cave and freed Jel-Sting!

"Are you all right?" asked Melody.

"The Sea Orb is taken!" exclaimed Jel-Sting. "A skyman's taken it!"

"Melody!" cried a voice. She turned around to see Princess Ariel and her friends, Flounder and Sebastian. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "You know, I feel safer when you're in the palace."

"But, mom, the Sea Orb is taken from a skyman!" Melody exclaimed.

"What?" exclaimed Ariel.

"But no one in this world would've knew or would've even guess it was here!" exclaimed Sebastian.

"Unless, since Jaco-Palo survived, he might be sending spies and trackers to find them!" thought Flounder.

"Quick! To the surface!" ordered Ariel. "We'll find them before anyone else finds out!"

They all went to the surface and couldn't find anyone. Not even a cloud in the sky.

"Look!" exclaimed Melody as she pointed to a skyman and three birds flying in the sky.

"HEY! BRING THOSE ORBS BACK! COME ON DOWN HERE!" they all shouted.

Then a big mighty SPLASH came behind them! They turned around and saw it was Toughclaw. "You invited me?" he chuckled.

"CHARGE!" cried Tip and Dash as they went for him, but Touchclaw picked them up with his beak in one second flat. He picked up Ariel and Melody with his claws and he picked up Sebastian and Flounder with his beak too.

As he was flying away, there was war-cry. "I'm coming, sweetie!" cried Scuttle the seagull as he charged for Toughclaw. But Toughclaw used the mermaids to kick him away and threw him on his favourite rock, where he would usually sit.

"I have brain and brawn, you have neither!" laughed Toughclaw as he flew away.


	6. Horrible Truths

Chris and the birds flew back to the temple. Then they saw a herd of birds flying towards them.

"Oh, no!" cried Chris. "Jaco-Palo must have been spying on us."

"How?" asked Kevin.

"His goddaughters Ursula and Morgana; they both had some sort of magic bubble thing so they can see where we're going," answered Chris. "He must have something similar."

"Pssht!" cried Berry near a river in the nearby forest. "Down here!"

Chris and the birds joined him down by the river.

"If this river leads the temple, we can swim underneath and avoid the birds," Berry told him.

"He's absolutely right!" agreed Kevin.

"All right, let's go!" ordered Chris. And they got under just in time, before the herd swarm like bees above them. On and on they swam through the vast and fast river, until they arrived at the feet of the temple.

They got out and searched for a hole for the dungeon. Then they found it and entered it.

"Lord Kabel! Lord Kabel!" But Lord Kabel was nowhere to be seen. Then they heard a little familiar voice calling, "Chris! Over here!" Chris and the birds flew quietly over the rocks and found – that they were taken hostage by Jaco-Palo's army. Lieutenant Cuckoo took the orbs off Chris and showed them to Captain Talon.

"Excellent work, Cuckoo," smiled Talon. "Now let's deliver everything to Jaco-Palo! Everyone wants good delivery service."

* * *

At the throne room, Chris and his friends were shocked to see Lord Kabel chained to a bird stand. "My lord? What happened?" asked Chris.

"I was worried about you so I tried to get out and they caught me," sighed Lord Kabel. "Jaco-Palo's going to have my head cut off."

"Yeah! And of all this mess is thanks to you!" Chris recognized that voice and saw Clo-Yehn in chains, being held down by strong falcons.

"Hey, Captain!" Chris shouted angrily. "Where _is_ Jaco-Palo?"

"That's a good question!" Talon and Cuckoo laughed.

"Nice try! Now tell me!"

Then the giant Toughclaw flew over the crowd and landed next to Captain Talon. "All the prisoners captured, Captain?"

"Yes, sir," reported Talon, saluting.

"Good!" smiled Toughclaw. "Make these comfortable, will you?"

Chris could not believe what he saw – Toughclaw spitting Princesses Ariel and Melody and their friends to the ground.

"Where are we?" asked Dash.

"This must be a tourist area," said Tip. Then he asked nearby bird. "Hey, pal, do you know where they serve refreshments?"

"Oh, no!" cried Sebastian. "This is the temple of Jaco-Palo."

"Oh, no!" cried Ariel.

"Oh, no! This cannot be true!" Melody looked around and saw a skyman called Chris, being held by birds. "Chris? Is that you?"

"Yes, your highness," Chris sighed.

"What are you doing here, Chris?" Ariel wanted to know.

"Well, your highness..." began Chris. And he told everyone the whole story.

While Chris told the story, Lord Kabel saw the Orbs that Talon was still holding. He had an idea.

"Well, it's not over yet, Chris," he said, when Chris finished. He wiggled his head to Talon so Chris could look at it. Chris and Lord Kabel smiled at each other, thinking off something. Chris winked at Kevin and the Toucans. The bird coughed and sneezed.

"Hey, stop their coughs!" ordered Talon. "I don't want any colds on this proud day!"

"Sir, it's very hot here," said Cuckoo. "You get colds when it's very cold."

"What? Oh, yeah!" Talon said. "Then how could they... Wait! They're faking it!"

But Talon was too late, because as the guards tried to hold the birds' beaks, they kicked them in the stomach and they escape. Chris did the same and he grabbed the Orbs off Talon.

The birds freed Lord Kabel and the mermaids and the fish. Chris threw the Orbs to Lord Kabel, who caught them. Then he flew to Jaco-Palo's throne. "Well, thanks to you, Christopher, the world shall now have peace..." said Lord Kabel, as his body grew more feathers and his wings grew bigger.

Chris look worried because it was all familiar!

"...under my control!" laughed the face of Jaco-Palo. "Gotcha!"

Then everyone watched with horror as the Land Orb, the Sea Orb and the Air Orb swooped around Jaco-Palo, giving him all the powers of the world. "I am now _the_ ultimate Ruler of the World!" he laughed loudly.

He caught Clo-Yehn in the face, who tried to attack him, and threw him to the corner in heavy chains. Ariel and Melody jumped up and tried to get him, but he caught them by the tail each and threw them to the wall and they landed in the pool, with seaweed acting as chains. Sebastian walked and tried to get Jaco-Palo with his claws but only got stuck to his arm. Flounder tried to bite him, but he got stuck. Jaco-Palo threw the aquatic creatures to join the two mermaids.

Dash tried to scare him with the scariest walrus face he could ever do, but Jaco-Palo did not even twitch and he blew a little breath and that shot Dash right into a giant vase, which he couldn't seem to get out.

Tip charged for him, but he was blocked off by Talon and Cuckoo.

"Going somewhere?" asked Talon.

"Flying somewhere? Obviously not!" Cuckoo laughed at this terrible joke.

"I may not be a flying bird, but I'm a fighting bird!" snapped Tip as he tried to kick them, but they kept dodging them.

Kevin grabbed a sword, Barry grabbed a spear and Berry grabbed a shield. Barry threw his spear at Jaco-Palo, but Jaco-Palo turned it into meat on a stick which he eat. "Thank you," he smiled. Then he grabbed Kevin, who tried to strike him with his sword. "No thank you!" he chuckled, putting him in a birdcage. Then he noticed Berry holding a shield. He had an idea and the shield grew over Berry and trapped him inside the shield!

"Ha ha! I'm winning!" grinned Jaco-Palo. "Anyone else?"

Chris saw his sword and picked it up. Then he saw Jaco-Palo charging him with his own sword, who blocked him off. "I gotcha this time!" Chris smiled. "I waited for you to strike, instead of the other way!"

"Hmm, you are clever," chuckled Jaco-Palo as Chris blocked off his sword attacks. Then the feathery beast punched the young skyman in the stomach and he flew out of the throne room and on the stairs of the temple. "But _not_ clever enough! You've kept your head in the dirt for too long and not learnt much. You're just like your father, Lord Coral, the merman who was best friends was King Triton off the sea!"

"What?" Chris was too stunned to move a muscle.

"And that's why you failed to stop me ruling the world and that's why Princess Melody never wanted you!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" yelled Chris, as he charged for Jaco-Palo. But then he fell down from the sky like he lost his wings – literally – and was caught by Touchclaw. Next thing he knew was that Chris was back in the dungeon and chained to the wall. He saw Kevin and Barry in a birdcage with the shield Berry was trapped in. He saw Ariel and Melody and their sea friends rise from the water nearby and still trapped by seaweed.

Jaco-Palo entered the dungeon. "Listen up!" he ordered and everyone obeyed. "I'd love to stick around and chat, but I have two armies to destroy and a whole world to rule! So see you later. Captain Talon, keep an eye on everything! Even if a slight stone should fall off, report it to me when back!"

"Yes, sir!" Talon saluted him.

"Well, see you!" And Jaco-Palo vanished without a trace.


	7. What Do We Do Now?

On the edge of the island, on the golden sand, Eric's army rested and supplied. Triton's army was in the sea was also saving their energy for who knows what.

Eric, Triton and their lead soldiers were talking about the plan. Triton got out a map and gave it to Eric. "This was found by the last merman who ever swam to this island to spy on Jaco-Palo," Triton sighed sadly. "My best friend, Lord Coral, who died giving this to me years ago. I was hoping this day would never come."

"Well, if we defeat him and save the world, he will not die in vain," Eric assured him calmly. "But we must plan carefully."

"Why plan?" asked Eric's second in command officer. "I mean he could come anytime. I mean he come when you least suspect it."

King Triton thought suspiciously. Then, with his triton, he fired at the Officer, who shot back! Then the power form the triton withdrew and backfired on the Ruler of the Oceans.

"Hey! I'm on your side!" protested the officer. "Why would you hit an ally?"

But Eric had ideas off his own and he saw a feather on his chest. He tried to pull it off, but it stuck. But it proved his theory. "Got something you'd like to get off your chest, Jaco-Palo?" he asked.

The officer sighed and, with a flash, there stood Jaco-Palo in his true form. "Well done, Eric, my friend!" he smiled. "That was very good. And a good joke, too, I must admit."

"Why are you here?" Eric asked. "You know we would rather die than serve you. But why do you want to rule us?"

"Because this world was once in the power of my family!" Jaco-Palo snapped. "My great-great-great-about-twenty-times-more-great-grandfather was ruler of the world; then some skymen overthrew us of the power and freed themselves and the land and the sea creatures and separate everything so things wouldn't be complicated. So I'm only getting what's entitled to me back!"

"Wait a minute!" Triton had an idea after he just heard. "So what did you do with those skymen who betrayed you?"

"You don't want to know!" yelled Jaco-Palo. "And you don't want to be like them either! So one last chance: Live in my world or move on in the next world. Your choice!" Then he vanished.

What could King Triton and Prince Eric, the rulers of the Land and the Sea, say, do or even think?

* * *

That was nothing compared to how Chris felt in the dungeon. Never mind the cold and the darkness, he was thinking about what he could've been and the terrible things he did.

Meanwhile, the mermaids were thinking a plan to escape.

"Mom, if I could reach that piece of rock, I could break the chain and we'd be free and free everyone," Melody exclaimed. "If I could just reach it."  
But she couldn't. Then Chris seemed to try to reach it and he did! He threw it near Melody.

"Thank you, Chris," she said, trying to break the chains with the rock. "But why didn't you free yourself?"  
"Because I'm where I belong!" he snapped.

"Don't say that!" begged Ariel.

"Yeah, I mean there is no one who could find the Three Orbs together," joined in Kevin.

"But to give it to who I thought was a friend but was the true enemy all along?" Chris was really losing it. "I thought I could save the world or do a good thing in this world, but instead I bring the end of it!"

"Well, no one is perfect," sighed Clo-Yehn. "I'm sorry I thought you were the enemy. Jaco-Palo was the one who killed my family when he tried to protect himself from the power to rule everything. Luckily, I hid the Orbs and have been protecting them for years so I couldn't take chances with anyone and hearing the name of Jaco-Palo shakes the feathers of my wings. I'm very sorry. Friends?"  
Chris thought and smiled, shaking hands with him.

"I almost ended the world myself, Chris," confessed Ariel. "I gave myself and nearly turned King Triton and his whole kingdom to Ursula."

"And I gave the powers of the sea to her sister, Morgana, but I sorted it all out," added Melody.

Chris took her words in himself and he said, "And that's what I'm going to do!"

"Yeah, that's more like it!" cheered Barry and Berry.

"Oh, no, that's less like it!" teased Cuckoo as he and Talon flew to him. "You're in chains and you can't get out."  
"Neither can you!" Chris cleverly said back.

"What do you mean?" Talon demanded to know.

"Well, what do you every day?" Chris went on.

"Well, at six to eleven in the morning, we do training, and, from about twelve to nine in the evening, we patrol the whole island and then we rest for the rest of the time," Talon answered.

"And does Jaco-Palo give you any rewards, money, food or praise?"

"Well, apart from my promotion, no," confessed Talon. "In fact, I don't know how I got to be Captain."

"And why are you guys sitting here, allowing yourselves to get crushed by the falling roof?" Chris went on, keeping a cool head.

"WHAT?" exclaimed Sebastian, Flounder, Tip, Dash, Kevin, Barry and Berry. They looked up and saw that Chris wasn't lying; the roof started to crack!

"Maybe it's because you're under a spell!" smiled Chris. And, with a slight flash out of Talon, Cuckoo and the bird armies' heads, he was proved right. The birds had lots of headaches and could barely stand.

"Who am I? Where am I?" asked Cuckoo.

"I'd say we've done something wrong and earned a trip to a dungeon," moaned Talon. He turned to Chris. "Hey, friend, what's going on?"

"Look up, you'll find your answer," Chris told him.

The birds looked and the roof began to fall off!

"Come on, free us and we'll help you get your lives back before Jaco-Palo arrived!" ordered Clo-Yehn.

"Jaco-Palo?"  
"He did this to us?"

"I'll show him!"

"Er, guys, a little help?" The prisoners were getting impatient.

"Come on, guys! Hurry!" ordered Talon, as he and the birds rushed to free them. At that same time, the roof came down at once!


	8. Let the Battles Begin!

Prince Eric remembered looking on the map and he and Triton decided to march to the Temple of Jaco-Palo, so the next morning Eric's army marched on the land, while Triton led his army under the sea.

Very soon, Eric halted his army and he couldn't believe what he saw. He saw the Temple of Jaco-Palo crushed to pieces.

King Triton and his army appeared from the sea and saw what Eric was seeing. Nothing made sense. Either did the army of the sand monsters appear in front of them, followed by Jaco-Palo.

"Hello," greeted the feathered monster. "Come to join the party."

"What party?" asked Triton.

"Why, the funeral of your daughter and your granddaughter!" Jaco-Palo grabbed a little orb of magic, threw it in the air and it show Ariel and Melody trapped in his dungeon and the roof falling down.

Eric and Triton nearly began to show their sadness and weakness, but they lit up their angry faces to hide them.

"We'll stop you before you kill anyone else!" shouted Triton.

"What's to kill?" asked Jaco-Palo. "You've lost everything – your wife, your daughter and your granddaughter! Oh, I get it. You're fighting for revenge, aren't you?"

"Well, I'm not! I'm fighting for my and Triton's species!" yelled Eric.

"Me too!" shouted Triton.

"So are we!" shouted both armies.

"If that's what you want," smiled Jaco-Palo, "let the battles begin!"

He lifted his wing in the air and threw it down, giving the signal for the sand monsters to attack.

The Land and the Sea Armies braced themselves for impact, but it was not enough as each and every single soldier were caught from the sand monsters that emerged from below.

"Did you really think it was going to be a fair fight?" Jaco-Palo chuckled.

"Well, rules were made to be broken!" shouted a voice from the sky. Then Jaco-Palo and everyone looked up at the sky and saw Jaco-Palo's entire bird army flying towards them and spitting mouthfuls of water to the sand monsters, realising the prisoners.

"What are you doing?" yelled Jaco-Palo. "I ordered you to stay."

"What kind of a good boss are you if you ordered these little birds to die?" asked Chris who had his wings back and was riding on Kevin, who was now the size of Toughclaw! "I've freed them from your spell and given them the freedom to take orders from me."

"But how did you escape and get your wings back and..." Jaco-Palo could not believe it.

"Well, let's just say, you're not as powerful as you think you are!" smiled Chris, as if the quiet and shyness was kicked out of him. "I stole a little power orb, enough to give myself wings, escape from that terrible dungeon and everything."

"Chris? What about Ariel and Melody?" asked Eric.

"Oh, they're busy!" Chris told him. And he was right. Barry was as tall as Kevin and, while he was flying, Ariel, Flounder and Sebastian were on his back and they were throwing tiny orbs to the sand monsters. Berry was doing the same, with Melody, Tip and Dash throwing tiny orbs at the sand monsters.

When an orb touched a sand monster, the sand fell off and it revealed a skyman. They were a whole bunch of groaning skymen lying everywhere. The humans helped them up and assured them.

"Where am I?" one asked.

"What's going on?" asked another one.

"We have to stop Jaco-Palo!" shouted a third.

"Yeah! He's the one who turned us into the evil sand monsters!"

"You see, Jaco-Palo," smiled Jaco-Palo. "Power and greed isn't everything if no one likes you."

"Oh, I beg to differ," laughed Jaco-Palo as his feather wings to scaly wings, his hands and feet turned to claws and his whole body grew ten times bigger and became scaly! Everyone froze as they saw Jaco-Palo the Dragon! The fire-breathing type, actually.

"Now, either serve me or die!" the dragon yelled.

"Living under you is no life at all!" asked Chris.

"Maybe this will make you reconsider." The dragon blew something white out of his mouth and the water vanished, leaving the merfolk and the sea creatures stranded. Then the land people felt a little rumble.

"He's taking the land away from us!" Eric shouted as he saw the land cracking.

The skypeople quickly grabbed the humans and flew them up in the air. They watched to see the land vanish into thin air, which was where every living creature was now.

Then they saw Jaco-Palo breathing fire at them and giving them chase. "You can fly, but you can't hide!" the dragon chuckled.

"Oh, I beg to differ!" smiled Chris. Then he turned to Kevin. "Full speed to that cloud, Kevin!"

"Yes, sir!" Kevin said.

"WHAT?" Everyone was so surprised.

"Chris may have nearly brought the end of the world," Barry told them, "but he still found the orbs!"

"And he got us out of prison and is leading to safety!" added Berry.

"I trust him with my life and so should you! Now let's go!" Kevin said as he flew into the giant cloud, followed by everyone.

Jaco-Palo swooped into the cloud and tried to find them, but he couldn't find them. So he flew on. Little did he know that Chris and his friends _were_ hiding in that cloud. They were sitting on rock-hard stuff so they could sit or stand.

"We can fly _and_ hide!" Berry shouted to the dragon.

"Shh! He'll hear you!" snapped Kevin.

Then they joined the rest of the species.

"Well, we lost the land and the sea," sighed Triton, looking at his triton. "You think if we surrender, he'll give them back?"

"No way!" shouted Captain Talon. "I may have change and I remember me spending time with him and he's not that sort."  
"So what do we do?" asked Eric.

"We can't spend our whole lives, running from cloud to cloud," Barry pointed out.

"And this cloud won't stay here forever," added Berry. "And we can't hide forever from Jaco-Palo. He's sure to find us."

"I suppose the only option is to fight?" asked Tip.

"Yeah, Tip," agreed Dash. "Like we always say, "If we're going to die, it's better to die fighting than hiding!"

Everyone murmured about this. Then Kevin arose. "Remember when we saw Jaco-Palo absorb the orbs into himself? We couldn't stand a chance. He'll probably gobble us up when we least ex – "

"Hey, where's Chris?" Melody interrupted. Then everyone saw that Chris was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Chris was in fact flying out to face Jaco-Palo armed with nothing but a sword. He knew that was not enough, but he heard what Kevin said about how they couldn't face him because he absorbed all the orbs into him. So his plan was to find the dragon and free the orbs from him. How, he did not know yet?

He was aware that the dragon could gobble him up, so he was very alert. Then he heard a faint flap. He drew his sword and turned around to face... nothing. Then he turned back around to face... Toughclaw!

"Hello," Toughclaw greeted. "Looking for a mouth to pop into?"

"Maybe, but certainly not yours!" snapped Chris.

"Well, I'm hungry anyway." Toughclaw's beak went for him. Chris flew as fast he could but Toughclaw caught him up. He drew his sword and tried to block off his beak, but the giant griffin's beak caught the sword and eat it. Chris tried to escape, but Toughclaw's claws caught him and his beak was about to feast. Then what went into his beak? Not Chris, but a spear and a sword!

There stood Kevin, Barry and Berry, with King Triton, Prince Eric, Princesses Ariel and Melody, throwing weapons at the Toughclaw. That freed Chris and he flew away.

"Go on, young skyman!" cried Triton. "Do what you think you can do!"  
"Just promise to make it back here alive!" shouted Melody.

"I promise, love," promised Chris, as he flew off.

While the others were busy with Toughclaw, Chris flew off, hoping to find a giant dragon. But from the large giant sky with no land or water, that was easier said than done. Well, to Chris anyway. Because he just missed giant dragon's teeth! He turned around and saw the most powerful thing in the world – Jaco-Palo the Dragon!  
"Care to join me for dinner?" the dragon asked.

"Yep," answered Chris. "What's on the menu?"  
"You!" answered the dragon. Then Chris lost his wings again and he fell down!

"I grow new wings and, thirty minutes later, I lose them again!" complained Chris.

"Well, life's not fair to you, but finally it is now for _me_!" chuckled the dragon, as Chris slipped down his throat.

* * *

Meanwhile, Toughclaw would have the time of his life if his enemies were a match for him.

"Come on, you guys are no fun!" he moaned to the bruised humans, merfolk, sea creatures and birds.

"Have you left some for me?" asked Jaco-Palo, arriving on scene.

"Yes, sir!" smiled Toughclaw.

"How would you like to join your friend Christopher in my belly?" asked Jaco-Palo.

"What? You killed him?" Ariel yelled angrily.

"Yeah, I know I wouldn't be the most powerful leader in the world without him, but there's no gratitude in my attitude," chuckled Jaco-Palo. "Now join me or join him!"

"HIM! HIM!" Everyone shouted at him.

"Boy, that was quick, but if that's what you want – "

Then Kevin, Barry and Berry shrunk back to their normal sizes and everyone fell off them and fell down to nothing. The dragon's teeth opened and was coming in closer and closer and then they completely shut. The dragon looked like there was something wrong with him.

Ariel and the gang landed on... land! There saw Eric's army and the Skypeople on the ground nearby and they saw the merfolk in the sea nearby. Then everyone looked up at the sky to see a falling dragon and vanishing into a white illusion. Three things fell out of the cloud of white and everyone saw the Air Orb blending in and exploding itself into the air, the Sea Orb blending in and exploding itself into the sea the Land Orb blending in and exploding itself into the Land. Then they saw the white lighting falling down to the sea and exploding quietly.

"Come on, let's find Chris!" ordered Ariel as she, Melody, Flounder, Sebastian, Tip, Dash, Kevin, Barry and Berry went to the sea. The sea folk dived in, while the birds flew around to check the area. Berry found something, but not Chris. It was Scuttle the seagull.

"Did I miss anything?" he asked.

"You only missed the ultimate battle in the history of the world," answered Berry.

"Oh, darn!" moaned Scuttle.

"Berry! Berry!" called Barry from a fair distance. "Help us with this boulder!"

Berry and Scuttle flew over to help Barry and Kevin move a giant boulder and what was under the boulder was... an unconscious Chris! He was sitting in an area of water

Kevin flew gently to him. "Chris? Chris! It's your friends Kevin, Barry and Berry."

"You did it," said Barry. "You saved the world and brought peace between the land, the sea and the air. You're a hero"  
"And you are a very good friend," sighed Berry, giving up hope on Chris.

"Yeah," Kevin and Barry agreed.

Ariel and the sea gang appeared next to the birds. "Have you found him?" asked Ariel.

Kevin only pointed. Everyone was shocked to see him like this.

Melody swam to him. "Chris, it's me, Melody," she said, calmly and not showing she was worrying. Just like how Chris held his secret love for her, _she_ did the same for Chris. She loved him very much and would've have married him if only he was a prince. "Oh, please, don't die! I don't care if you are a volunteer or a prince, I love you!" Bursting into tears, she kissed him on his lips and he... opened his eyes!

Melody saw him and jumped back. "You're alive!" she gasped.

"You're alive!" cried Ariel.

"Yes, your highnesses, and I'm feeling a little love," moaned Chris. "I meant, er, rough."

He tried to climb out of the water, but he couldn't get his legs to hold onto the rocks. He looked behind and saw that was because he _had_ no legs! He had a merman's tail!

"What? Jaco-Palo did tell me that my father was bests with your father, Ariel, but I thought he was lying," he sighed.

"Oh, _you're _unhappy now, are you?" said a very squeaky voice. Then everyone turned around to see a canary in a cage

"Jaco-Palo?" Everyone was surprised.

"No, I'm just an unnamed canary that has been lost out to sea," lied Jaco-Palo the canary.

"Nice try, Jaco-Palo," laughed Chris, "but you taught me not buy your own lies!"

"Yeah, they get you nowhere, don't they?" moaned the voice of another canary trapped in the same cage of Jaco-Palo.

"Toughclaw?" Chris and the others wer surpised.

"Does a carany have tough claws?"

Everyone laughed then Chris returned to the merman's tail subject. "This doesn't make sense."

"Maybe this will," said King Triton, emerging from the sea. With his triton, he show Chris his father and his friendship with King Triton, how Chris was born and got separated due to being stoled by Ursula and making him human and sending him out of the sea and onto the land, where Eric found him and hired him to help him around the palace and giving him somewhere to live.

"Wow! I don't know what to think, say or do," said Chris, barely believing this.

"Well, if Ariel doesn't want to become the Queen of Atlantica, the throne will pass to you," Triton said.

Everyone thought and discussed about it...


	9. The End

...and they came to the decisions the families, their friends and their species were happy with.

So the next day, Prince Eric and Princess Ariel, back to human form, were finally crowned King and Queen, much to Eric's Father's happiness as everyone, including from the sea and the air watched and applauded them.

Later that afternoon, Melody asked Chris to go for a swim and he joined her. Then landed on Scuttle's rock. "Well, it's an honour to have the Hero of All Time here!" he praised. "Can I get you anything?"

"Just a little time of privacy if you don't mind, Scuttle," Melody asked.

"Consider it done!" the seagull shouted as he tried to fly, only to end up landing in the sea.

"So, Chris, tell me about your adventures," ordered Melody.

So Chris told her everything truthfully and modestly.

When he finished, she asked, "Would species would you rather be?"

"Well, I've always been human, but I thought being a skyman was cool, but I have a funny feeling I belong in the sea, which seems happy to me," he said. Then Chris proposed to Melody and asked her to be his queen and she said, "Yes!"

The next day, they got married and King Triton took his crown off and crowned Christopher King with it and crowned Melody Queen with his wife Queen Athena's crown he had hidden for many years. Now they could finally seize the throne of Atlantica.

That night, the happy marriages met each other.

"Are you sure you rule the sea and the duties of your grandfather, Melody?" asked Queen Ariel.

"Oh, yes, Mom," answered Queen Melody. "I love the sea, but my husband even more."

"Thank you for everything ever since you found me on that lost ship all those years ago, Eric," said King Christopher. "None of this would've happened if it weren't for you."  
"Nah, I wouldn't say that, Chris," said Eric. "I'd say everyone played a part in this war coming, but _you're_ the one who saved the world from being ruled by evil and brought balance for the land, the sea and the air. You really deserve my daughter."

And then the King and Queen of the Sea waved goodbye to the King and Queen of the Land and swam away. Then they met their air friends Kevin, Barry and Berry and the new leader of the skypeople, Clo-Yehn.

"Hello, your majesty," said Clo-Yehn, bowing to him.

"Hello, Sky Leader," said Chris, bowing back to him. "Tell me, what's life in the air like?"  
"Better than it used to be," Berry said out quickly.

"Even before the Jaco-Palo business," added Barry.

"And the Temple of Jaco-Palo is being rebuilt and many of the skypeople and birds are making themselves home there," added Kevin.

"That's brilliant!" exclaimed Melody happily.

"What about the duo act?" asked Chris.

Kevin showed the cage of Jaco-Palo and Softclaw, formally known as Toughclaw.

"Hi," moaned Jaco-Palo.

"Hello!" yelled Softclaw in frustration.

"Be a little quiet, will you!"

"Hey, you're not the boss of me anymore, so shut up!"  
And the canaries fought and fought with each other.

"All of us own a debt to you, King Christopher," smiled Clo-Yehn.

"I'm just glad the peace for everyone in this world is working," smiled Chris.

And so for many years, everyone ruled happily and all the peoples and creatures were very happily. The Cruse of Jaco-Palo, Ursula, Morgana and all that family had vanished into thin air. And everyone lived very close to each other and they would meet everyone often. Life was good for the Land, the Sea and the Air.

THE END

Based on the 1989 film and its franchise, based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.


End file.
